Topic: Shame
Trauma initially leaves any of us feeling vulnerable. When trauma is internalized so that our inside and our outside is permeated by it's effects for an extended period of time, it is very difficult to feel fully alive and thrilled with events that would otherwise leave us feeling that way by their very nature. We cannot allow the joy to permeate because there seems to be no room for it.
Sadly, I've noticed that some people I love dearly have an intense need to even remind anyone else to be careful about feeling a childlike joy. After all, Humpty Dumpty did, and look what happened when he fell!
It's a distorted way of seeing the world, and it is all born out of a deep sense of trauma that has been unknowingly internalized as shame. What a big ball of solid wax! What a challenge to melt that wax and place the wick of hope inside it!
